Monday, November 26, 2007

The exams went well. I believe that they gave me a lot of experience (In case i get to give it again next year). Occasionally students used to know some question or the other (I am yet to figure out how?) and the mornings were spent cramming them up. It has been a tiresome month. My centre lay at the base of Shankaracharya hill and is called as the Govt. Boys High School. One thing which I noticed was that while we gave our papers in the class rooms, the students gave their classes in the open air (And the terribly cold air).

Winter is around and so is the shortage of everything that can be associated with it. And of course winter means a power cut. You are not going to be spared even if your brother's friend's father's nephew who is going out with someone high in the government has an acquaintance in the PDD.

Lets do some world watch before moving on to other things:Sudden imposition of emergency and the suspension of the constitutional rights by Pervez Musharraf has brought Pakistan into its darkest phase ever. Officially it may be an emergency but partially it means Musharraf is everything. We might come across the situation when Musharraf the judge gives order to arrest Musharraf the general with the permission of Musharraf the president..Kashmir is affected (Thats what people say, I dont see a thing)

A beautiful vehicle came to a screeching halt. All people sorting used clothes in the Sunday market turned their heads. A well dressed buchi came out and pushed her parishaan zulfain with a gentle jerk of her surahidaar gurden. She was accompanied by her servant. Both walked towards a jacket seller. Good God! The buchi started sorting the jackets. She would pick a piece, try it and after looking in the mirror (that was put on sale by another vendor) from different angles reject it. The vendor loosened a gathri of jackets before her. The buchi looked at the heap and repeated the exercise for quite some time. Finally she chose a jacket. Out came a few currency notes which she handed over to the vendor. The buchi was pleased with her find. She smiled and left in her vehicle. The people who had abandoned their find started a fresh. The buchi will get the jacket dry cleaned and tell her friends that her relative got it from England for her. Her friends will praise it to please her. But the buchi knows that her friends know where from the jacket was purchased. There was a time when people did not like getting noticed in the Sunday market. The buchies especially were scared of purchasing second hand clothes. But, times have changed and so has the attitude of the buchies. They have turned bold if not beautiful. Now they frequently visit the once detested place. Every body in Kashmir knows that the beautiful jacket a girl boasts of having purchased in Geneva was actually donated by a foreigner for poor and distressed people in this part of the world. Similarly, the buchies know that the elegant dress a boy displays was sorted out from a heap of used clothes sent from a distant land by a generous doner.(Bangladesh Of course)

Slowly but surely the society has started accepting the harsh reality. The donors from saat samandar paar do not only donate clothes. They donate quilts, blankets, handkerchiefs, mufflers, socks, towels, shoes, curtains and even under garments.The famous Bollywood actor, Raj Kapoor once sang, “Mera juta hai Japani, ye patloon Inglistani, sar pe lal topi Rusi phir bhi dil hai Hindustani.” This song fits well on the modern Kashmiris. Their jacket is from Bangladesh, their cap from Bangladesh, the trouser from the capital of Bangladesh, Shoe from a village in Bangladesh. But, they still continue to be Kashmiris although they do not know much about Kashmir and Kashmiri language. This is yet another form of Kashmiriyat. A Kashmiri may wear a foreign jacket, he may use a quilt donated by a Meem but he continues to be a Kashmiri.And Of course we do know about the sunglasser Kashmiri.

I look bored I guess let me leave... But do have a look here to entertain yourselves....